Sheffield Steelers skipper ready for GB challenge

Chris Ellis

Sheffield Steelers’ forward Jonathan Phillips says there will be no drop in intensity after Great Britain arrived in Zagreb for the World Championship (Division 1B).

Pete Russell’s side have undergone a week-long training camp in Coventry, where they had two on-ice sessions per day.

“I think the last week of training camp and the two games against Poland, the boys have enjoyed their time together,” said Phillips. “There has been a longer camp this year and the boys are very excited for this tournament.”

After arriving on Thursday, GB staged two training sessions on Friday and one is planned for Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s opener against hosts Croatia.

“We’re a hard working group and we like to be intense,” continued Phillips. “We like to keep things at a high tempo.

“We know these tournaments are all about speed and quick puck movement. We try and simulate that in our training sessions and to succeed we need to do that. Things won’t change now we are here.”

GB also face Estonia, Lithuania and Romania, before ending their six-team group with a game against top seeds Ukraine, who were relegated from Division 1A last season.